The first time I heard about OutSystems was on one of my 1st days as an IT consultant. I was asked if I had heard of this Portuguese technology that worked wonders. And I, with some trepidation, replied … No. I was given a little introduction right there and asked if I had an interest in learning. Well, at the time, after the explanation, it seemed interesting. So my answer was … Yes.
Trust yourself.
But, contrary to what I thought, the training would only be through the videos that are on the OutSystems website. Those videos are very good, but that still left me with many gaps. I studied hard, and after 2 months I accomplished the Associate Traditional Web Developer Certification. But even doing the certification, I knew and felt that I had many gaps.
With that, I want to leave an alert to everyone who enters the path of “self-education” … Look for a Bootcamp or some structured course from OutSystems (or partners) to learn. The basics that you will not have in the online training can leave you crippled.
Learn to code in a structured way. Basics are fundamental.
I had ups and downs in this journey. I had good and bad managers. I had excellent tech leads, which I thank for their patience (It is a rare virtue that has made all the difference). And I had a lot of good fellow developers.
I learned that just failing, and failing without fear and early, you can move forward and you can be a good programmer. But for that, I had to deconstruct prejudices that I carried with me. Prejudices about the meaning of failing to deliver or failing to deliver with quality. Prejudices about asking for help when I didn’t know. Prejudices about learning from the youngest. But I kept learning and deconstructing those prejudices.
Fail forward
Along the way, I must say that I took a break from OutSystems technology for a while. By break, understand, I went to learn another technology, C# .Net. This was an excellent detour. It gave me other knowledge and other perspectives. It made me learn more about databases, development methodologies, and other important pieces of software development. But above all, it made me realize the power of Visual-Code (Low-Code).
Learn other technologies. It will always help.
I must confess that after that break from OutSystems, when I returned, as I still had not consolidated my knowledge in OutSystems before the deviation, it made this return cost more. But with resilience anything is possible. Every day I kept learning something more.
Always be resilient and eclectic.
After some time on OutSystems technology and for several other reasons I already felt prepared for other flights. That was when I learned that technical job interviews are a source for realizing that you still know little. I soon “returned to earth” when I realized that I still had a lot to learn. And I learned a lot in the interviews and about what I had to improve. This allowed me to focus on those aspects. So, here I went to learn even more, in books, articles, online courses, classroom courses. All I could learn I was learning and I continue to learn. So I thank all the interviewers.
Always be prepared, as if every day were the day of a technical job interview.
The place where I work now fosters learning, offers courses, and demands excellence. All this in a much-humanized way. Because of that, I have had the pleasure of learning, even more, every day and being able to pass on what I know to the new OutSystems fellows. Being able to have the opportunity to teach, directly or indirectly, is something that gives me a lot of pleasure, even though I may not have exactly the teacher’s special wings.
Teach what you know, always. And without limiting this knowledge transmission. It is also a way to learn.
To have a clear focus on what I must learn, I realize that I also have to understand how I can bring more value to the company. Only in this way, it’s viable to maximize the value that I take to the company and the knowledge I get in the process.
Bring value to the company
Nowadays, I continue to learn, because I still have a lot to learn. I teach the little I know, whenever I can. And to continuously improve, I felt that it was the right moment to venture into other personal projects, which at the same time help the professional aspect, organically.
Do other activities besides work.
And you, what is your path?
Leave your answer in the comments.
Visual Codify 